Adding a portable panel to roof mounted panel
I have a 160w Go Power panel (specs below) on the roof of my toyhauler fed to a Blue Sky Sun Charger 30 PWM CC. 208ah battery bank (two Interstate GC2 in series). Built in Onan 4000W generator. No ...
Forum Discussion
BFL13 wrote:grizzzman wrote:hammick wrote:
I called Renology about their 100w briefcase system and they told me that if I put a 100w panel in parallel with my 160w panel my 160w panel will attempt to match the power of the 100w panel effectively giving me 200 watts. Does this sound right?
I just did some quick research and it sound like the Renology tech doesn't understand parallel connections. He would be correct if I was going to connect a 160w panel and a 100w panel in series. Is my logic correct?
IIRC you are using a PWM controller if this is the case you will get 260 watts but...if you are using a MPPT controller he would be correct.
Can you explain that please? I can't figure out what difference the MPPT makes. There could be a difference between series and parallel connecting the panels of course, where PWM would not work in series except with a 24v battery bank.
If you are using an MPPT charge controller, mixing panels of different voltages and/or currents within an array will have an adverse effect on the entire system. Different module outputs make it impossible for the controller to determine the optimal operating voltage and current because they will be different between the different types of panels.
In fact this is one of several reasons i chose PWM over MPPT. My system will grow over time and i don't need to be concerned about if panels match.
